Method and apparatus for making intraluminal implants and construction particularly useful in such method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of making a braided intraluminal implant, comprising:
- providing a mandrel having at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a large-diameter section;
interweaving a plurality of filaments devoid of a binder material to form a tubular braid enclosing at least a part of said small-diameter section and at least a part of said large-diameter section;
and, while said filaments remain devoid of a binder material such that the filaments are supported solely in said tubular braid by said mandrel, cutting said tubular braid to produce a tubular braid segment having outwardly flared ends at its opposite ends.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of and an apparatus for making a braided intraluminal implant, by providing a mandrel having at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a large-diameter section; interweaving a plurality of filaments to form a tubular braid enclosing at least a part of the small-diameter section and at least a part of the large-diameter section; and cutting the tubular braid to produce a tubular braid segment having outwardly flared ends at its opposite ends. One flared end is produced by the large-diameter section of the mandrel, and the opposite outwardly flared end may be produced either by another large-diameter section of the mandrel, or by cutting the tubular braid at a portion formed by the small-diameter section of the mandrel but at a location wherein the release of stresses in the filaments inherently produces an outward flaring of the braid at that end.
211 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A method of making a braided intraluminal implant, comprising:
-
providing a mandrel having at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a large-diameter section; interweaving a plurality of filaments devoid of a binder material to form a tubular braid enclosing at least a part of said small-diameter section and at least a part of said large-diameter section; and, while said filaments remain devoid of a binder material such that the filaments are supported solely in said tubular braid by said mandrel, cutting said tubular braid to produce a tubular braid segment having outwardly flared ends at its opposite ends. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A mandrel for use with a braiding machine for making braided intraluminal implants;
- said mandrel comprising at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a large-diameter-section;
said mandrel being dimensioned to enable a plurality of filaments to be interwoven thereon to produce braided intraluminal implants of a diameter corresponding to said small-diameter section and having at least one flared end formed by said large-diameter section; said mandrel being of a length many times that of the braided intraluminal implants to be made, such that a continuous length of a tubular braid may be formed on said mandrel and then cut into a plurality of said tubular braid segments; said mandrel being constructed of a plurality of modular units, each having a cylindrical, conical or tapered section integrally formed at one end with an enlarged head, having an axially-extending bore of a diameter to receive the end of the cylindrical, conical or tapered section of another modular unit.
- said mandrel comprising at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a large-diameter-section;
-
14. A mandrel for use with a braiding machine for making braided intraluminal implants:
-
said mandrel comprising at least one small-diameter section joined at least at one end to a lame-diameter-section; said mandrel being dimensioned to enable a plurality of filaments to be interwoven thereon to produce braided intraluminal implants of a diameter corresponding to said small-diameter section and having at least one flared end formed by said large-diameter section; wherein said mandrel is constructed of a cylindrical, conical or tapered rod having a plurality of rings removably received at spaced locations along the length of said rod to define said large-diameter sections of the mandrel; and wherein each of said rings is an elastic ring of a non-circular configuration so as to be elastically retained on said rod and conveniently removable therefrom by manually distorting the ring towards a circular configuration. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
Specification